DISCLAIMER: I worked with Representative Diane Russell on the Protect Maine Voting Rights Coalition in 2011 collecting signatures to preserve same-day voter registration in Maine.
Last year, a group calling themselves ALEC Exposed created a website that, for the first time, listed legislators that have been associated with ALEC, since the organization chooses not to make their list of members public. The website also explores instances of model legislation that has made its way into different states and tips on how to spot ALEC bills. Langley withdrew his membership with ALEC after his name and association with the organization became public information.
“I don’t like to speculate on people’s intentions. Joe Biden says very clearly to judge people’s actions, not their intentions. I know Senator Langley very well, and I know that he is one of the more moderate republican senators and much more pragmatic, so it surprised me when I learned that he was a member at one point” said Democratic Representative Diane Russell of Portland.
“I have seen it firsthand in Maine” said Russell when asked about ALEC’s influence in Maine. She goes on to say “I don’t think it’s a very ethical organization quite frankly, based on the evidence that I’ve seen. When you look at how they circumvent our campaign finance laws and our reporting requirements. When you can go to a conference and meet directly with folks who may make donations to your campaign, but you can do that without them being considered lobbyists, because it shows up just as attending a conference. I think that’s a problem. Furthermore, when you look at the mass amount of bills they’re introducing into state legislatures across the country that reflect a very specific agenda, which is anti-family, anti small business, anti-woman in some cases, anti-environment, all of these bills, and then you factor in that some of these folks that tend to put in ALEC supported bills tend to get donations from the same kind of companies that are supporting those bills.”
Specifically in Maine, Russell has seen testimony against bills that seems to come directly from talking points in the ALEC handbook. “Whether it’s efforts to undermine clean elections, they have a model resolution which essentially calls public financing welfare for politicians, which is precisely the testimony that we get from folks who oppose clean elections. It may not be a direct bill because that’s a resolution, but the intent is the same, and the messaging is consistent with the work that has been done to undermine the system. When you look at some of the environmental laws, or the proposals, those are negative. When you look at the gun laws that are proposed, those are very consistent with the ALEC agenda.”
In 2010, model legislation came to Maine and other states to roll back the rights of voters, including a bill that would require photo identification for someone to vote. “Voter id is actually a model bill that they have been putting forth. But then you take that to the next level, most states don’t have election day registration. We happen to have it. They have put forth a variety of bills that will undermine people’s ability to access the ballot box, and the election day registration fight is certainly in line with their plan to remove people from the voting rolls. So I have seen it firsthand in Maine. Workers compensation, the right to work bills, all of those bills that are under a very particular agenda are very consistent, if not model bills from the ALEC agenda.”
Russell worked with a coalition called Protect Maine Voting Rights in 2011 that collected petition signatures for a citizens initiative that would ultimately reinstate same-day voter registration in Maine. “You tend to choose to eliminate voters who may vote a particular way, it allows you to control the government in a much more systematic manner” said Russell. “So there’s just been a lot that’s occurring with ALEC that I don’t think benefits our democracy. It’s had a profound impact on undermining it, certainly does not benefit working people, and it certainly sends our country in the wrong direction. The big battleground right now is in the states, it’s not even in Congress.” Russell along with many legislators from both sides of the aisle have pushed for more comprehensive finance reform.
I asked Russell what constituents can do to hold their legislators accountable, and she left me with some wise words. “I think the way we hold law-makers accountable under any circumstance happens to be the ballot box, but in order for that to work, people have to know that information. If you have a law-maker that is doing something you disagree with, then absolutely you should hold them accountable. You can write letters to the editor, or reach out to them. Let them know in no uncertain terms, put it on their Facebook page that you disagree with what they’re doing.”
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a national organization comprised of Republican state legislators. ALEC is known for writing model legislation that it provides to its members to introduce within their respective state legislatures. ALEC does not release the names of their members. Russell was recently named the most valuable legislator in the country by the magazine The Nation and has been at the forefront of the progressive movement in Maine and in D.C.
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